Due to a continuing drive to improve efficiencies, eliminate waste and downtime, improve product safety and quality, in addition to meeting increasingly accepted foreign object debris (FOD) regulations, the implementation and use of automated asset management systems is growing in aerospace, manufacturing, research, transportation and railroad, food preparation, mining, microelectronics, and other industries.
Currently available automated asset management systems utilize a variety of technologies to identify objects issued from and returned to a secure storage device or an enclosed secure storage area. Examples for a secure storage device may include a tool box or tool locker and an example of a secure enclosed area may include a tool crib or walk in tool locker. These technologies currently may include, but are not limited to manual tracking with paper forms, manual tracking with data input into computer programs, camera imaging, passive RFID (radio frequency identification), optical code scanning, optical tag scanning, and the like.
These systems share the same basic goals which include identifying the individual who received and or returned the object, identifying the object which is being issued or returned, placing a time stamp on each transaction within the system and storing item and user data in a database.
Each of the technologies listed above has advantages and disadvantages when used in an automated asset management system. For example, the imaging system does not generally distinguish between different items that may be visually identical to each other. RFID based systems have limitations on the size of the tools as some tools are too small to have RFID chips placed on them.
A challenge that remains unaddressed relates to the storage and tracking of portable rechargeable tools and/or spare batteries and battery packs for such tools. Use of these devices is fast becoming ubiquitous within the industries mentioned above.